Travel Blog Success Review – An Insider Review
Name: Travel Blog Success
Website: travelblogsuccess.com
Founders: Michael Tieso and Dave Lee
Bare Naked Scam rating: 3 Thumbs Up
Like you, I am interested in making money while travelling, and that’s why I’ve found Travel Blog Success.
Travel Blog Success is the first online course I’ve encountered that focuses on the travel niche.
Whether you are a novice who is just starting out to be a travel blogger or you are already blogging about your travel experiences, Travel Blog Success will teach you all the basics about travel blogging as well as teaching you how to scale and monetize your travel blog successfully.
You’ve definitely come to the right place because I am going to share with you everything you need to know about this program to make an informed decision.
I am a blogger, although not in the travel niche currently, but I have bought the program and have firsthand experience with everything the program has to offer.
It’s easy for me to determine the quality of the training courses as I’ve reviewed hundreds of programs over the years.
So, let’s get straight into the details…
What is Travel Blog Success?
Travel Blog Success (TBS) was founded by 2 travel bloggers, Michael Tieso and Dave Lee, but Michael Tieso is no longer with the TBS team, but remains as an active member in the community.
The core of TBS is its lifetime membership which costs a one-time payment of $297.00 or you could pay $87 per month for 4 months.
With the TBS membership, you’ll unlock the core courses which are “The Fundamentals of Travel Blogging” course and “Advanced Travel blogging” course.
TBS is basically a training program that teaches you how to set up and monetize a travel blog, and on top of that, it teaches you everything you need to know about the travel industry.
Within the TBS membership, there are several other courses that complements the core courses.
I’ll discuss more about what’s in the TBS membership as well as the other courses below.
What’s in the TBS Membership?
Core Course: The Fundamentals of Travel Blogging
This course consist of 6 modules and a total of 30 lessons.
Module 1: The Foundation of Your Travel Blog
In this module, it is all about setting your goals, finding the right niche, and the right domain name for your travel blog.
Although Travel is considered a niche, but it is still a broad niche.
Within the Travel industry, there are many other smaller niches that you can take advantage of, for example, a travel blog which talks about the food of other countries or a blog that focuses on the tradition and culture of a particular country.
You can’t go into this business aimlessly, and you definitely can’t handle a travel blog that focuses on too many things at the start.
I would say that this module is on point with the basics you need to build a successful travel blog.
Module 2: The Technical Setup of Your Travel Blog
Though you may not have the technical skills to set up a blog, but this module has made it easy for you to choose whichever tools you need to build your travel blog.
In this day and age, you don’t need to know coding to set up a blog, you just need good guidance and tools to get things started within an hour.
Module 3: How to Create Great Travel Blog Content
Here is where it gets interesting.
A blog will not be successful without great content.
I’m sure you’ve come across content of other travel bloggers where you’ll be happy to click the “share” button on Facebook.
That is what TBS is teaching, creating content that are engaging and shareable.
This module guides you through how to find the voice and personality for your travel blog, as well as an introduction to rank your content on search engines like Google.
Module 4: Other Forms of Travel Blog Content
Content is not only about writing words.
There are many other forms of content like videos, photos, podcast, etc, and this module introduces you to the different types of content and how you should use them for your travel blog.
Module 5: Promoting Your Travel Blog
A blog is good for nothing if it is not seen by other people.
This module teaches you the avenue to share your content and to build your personal brand.
It also shares the different strategies that other Travel Bloggers used to promote their blogs.
Module 6: Building Toward Success of Your Travel Blog
Travel blogging doesn’t end here.
This is just the beginning as this module shows you an introduction to the advanced travel blogging course, as well as teaching you how to connect your website with Google Analytics.
Take Your Travel Blog to the Next Level? Join TBS!
Core Course: Advanced Travel Blogging
Module 1: Transitioning From Hobby to Business
This is where you’ll learn how to turn your travel blog into an income generating business.
You’ll learn how to create a business plan for your travel blog and become an authority in your travel niche.
Module 2: Practicalities in Running a Blog Business
You’ll learn the truth and hardships of travel blogging. Travel blogging is a full-time job by itself.
Even if you quit your 9-to-5 office hour job, you’ll end up working even more hours on your travel blog.
More than that, this module will teach you how to keep records for your travel blog business as well as provide you with some tax knowledge.
Module 3: Brand Partnerships Through Your Travel Blog
If you can’t beat them, join them, right?
You see, big brands like TripAdvisor, Traveloka, and Expedia have monopolies the travel industry and it is almost impossible for small time players like us to beat them.
The smart way is to collaborate with them.
That’s how you’ll earn from your blog.
This module teaches you how to find sponsors and advertising agents for your travel blog.
There’s an entire course within TBS that focuses on Brand partnerships called “Bloggers, Brands, and Tourism Board”. I’ll discuss more on this below.
Module 4: Earning Income Through Your Travel Blog
This is why we are interested in TBS, right? Earning an income while travelling?
There are many ways that you can earn from your travel blog and this module will share with you all the avenues that you can earn from.
Module 5: Additional Income Opportunities
Writing an ebook? Selling related physical products? Selling your travel photographs?
These are another sources of income you can generate while you are travelling, and this module provides you with guidelines to earn from those avenues.
Module 6: The Future of Your Travel Blog
This marks the end of all the lessons in your TBS membership.
Of course, there are many more things that you can learn from TBS.
You’ll also get access to their video vault of past webinars and training on specific topics, as well as an hour long interview with successful travel bloggers.
If you are interested in other aspects of travel blogging, you’ll also be interested in the other training programs from TBS.
Your Gateway to Successful Travel Blogging. Join TBS!
Supplementary Course #1: Affiliate Marketing for Beginners
Did I mention that affiliate marketing is one of the main income streams for your travel blog?
This entire course revolves around affiliate marketing.
The concept is really simple. Like an insurance agent promoting an insurance policy and earning a commission from the insurance company on a successful sale.
The difference is that there is no physical selling, and everything happens online.
This course will show you how to do affiliate marketing, and the types of affiliate products you should promote on your travel blog.
Supplementary Course #2: Travel Writing for Bloggers
This will dive deep into the styles and techniques for writing as a travel blogger.
You need to plan in order to write effectively. You don’t want to waste your time thinking of how you should structure your content while you are at your destination. You’ll just be wasting your precious experience at your destination.
Instead, you should plan before you reach your destination, and this course will teach you how to be an efficient travel blogger.
Supplementary Course #3: The Complete Facebook Marketing Course
As a travel blogger, you can’t depend on the search engine alone as your source of traffic to your travel blog.
You need to know how to utilize Facebook heavily for your travel blog to get your foot off the ground.
Ranking on search engines will take a long time, but building an audience on Facebook is a quicker and effective way to promoting your travel blog.
Many travel bloggers became famous and successful quickly by sharing their blog on Facebook.
This is a complete course that teaches you how to leverage Facebook as a medium for reaching out to your audience.
Supplementary Course #4: Videography for Travel Bloggers
Your travel blog wouldn’t be complete without videos.
However, it’ll be hard to get started producing your own videos without proper tools and guidance.
This course gets into the details about the type of cameras you should use, the setting for your camera while videoing, the types of travel videos, even the things to prepare for the video shoot.
This is a comprehensive course that covers everything you need for your travel videos.
Supplementary Course #5: Bloggers, Brands, and Tourism Boards: A Guide to Successful Partnerships
Expanded from module 3 of the Advanced Travel Blogging course, you’ll get to learn the ins and outs of finding the right partners for your travel blog.
When done right, this will be a prominent source of income for your blog.
This is an advanced course that should only be taken after you have established a brand for your travel blog.
Supplementary Course #6: Blogger to Bylines: A Guide to Freelance Writing
If your passion lies with writing, which I’m sure you will after you’ve become a travel blogger, you’ll want to know how you can take your writing to the next level.
Finding opportunities for guest posting, luring news publication to publish your post, and guide to working with publication house editors are some of the things you’ll learn from this course.
Plus, you’ll gain access to a private Facebook group of like minded individuals.
So, there you have it, all the courses available within the TBS membership. You must be wondering how much does all these courses cost…
The Cost for All TBS courses…
- The Travel Blog Success Lifetime Membership – $297 or $87/mth for 4 months (Join TBS)
- Affiliate Marketing for Beginners – $97
- Travel Writing for Bloggers – $97
- The Complete Facebook Marketing Course – $127
- Videography for Travel Bloggers – $197
- Bloggers, Brands, and Tourism Board: A Guide to Successful Partnerships – $197
- Bloggers to Bylines: A Guide to Freelance Writing – $147
To unlock all the other supplementary courses, you must first have an active TBS membership.
Don’t be intimidated by the prices of the courses. You don’t need all of the courses to succeed.
Just the TBS membership alone will get you off the ground, and a few supplementary courses like the “The Complete Facebook Marketing Course” will expedite the success of your travel blog.
Who is it for?
The main criteria are obviously your interest and passion about travelling.
If you constantly dream about your next holiday (who wouldn’t right?) or you have decided to be a full-time traveler, then Travel Blog Success is just the right course for you.
It is even better if you already own a travel blog.
TBS is most suitable for travel bloggers who are struggling to make money from their blogs or for travel bloggers who want to take their blog to the next level.
My Honest Opinion
Earning while travelling is a dream for almost everybody.
However, Travel Blogging is not for everyone.
You might have a spur of the moment to want to set up a Travel Blog, but you really need to have the passion, the interest, and patience to be a successful Travel Blogger.
The road is tough ahead as a Travel Blogger. There aren’t shortage of travel bloggers in the industry.
What’s worst is that big brands like TripAdvisor, Traveloka, and Expedia have monopolies this industry, and you definitely shouldn’t be their competitors.
Instead, you need to find a small niche within this competitive industry and build on that passion you have when you first started out as a Travel Blogger.
The Travel Blog Success will provide you with many tips and tricks, and walk you through the entire process of building a successful travel blog.
Many people became successful travel bloggers with the help of TBS. Could you be the next one? Join TBS here.
Thank you so much for reading this review!
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If you wish to discuss more or you have questions about Travel Blog Success, feel free to leave a comment below.
Your pal,
Jack